


Deciding the Future

by Celandine



Category: Harry Potter - J. K. Rowling
Genre: Ficlet, M/M, Post-War, Romance
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2011-04-27
Updated: 2011-04-27
Packaged: 2017-10-18 17:56:28
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 449
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/191623
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Celandine/pseuds/Celandine
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Sometimes what seems to be the end of all things, is not.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Deciding the Future

**Author's Note:**

  * For [isisanubis](https://archiveofourown.org/gifts?recipient=isisanubis).



The bright light was painful. Remus moaned and squeezed his eyes shut, putting up his hands to cover them as well.

"Get up, you mangy werewolf."

The low voice was familiar, if not one he had ever expected to hear again. Remus cracked one eyelid open and peered. "Severus?"

"Who else?" Severus sounded exasperated. "Come on, get up. Or did you want me just to bury you again?"

"Bury me?" Severus wasn't misrepresenting the situation. Remus was lying in a coffin, with several feet of dirt rising cliff-like to either side. The sun directly overhead, not the colder glare of hospital room lights, was the source of the brightness. "What happened?"

Severus reached down to help Remus scramble out of the open grave.

"You were killed," he said shortly. "Well, nearly so. It's hard to kill a werewolf; I can't think why Minerva didn't check, but perhaps it's just as well. Something like the same thing happened to me. I was left for dead after Voldemort's pet snake bit me, but luckily all the anti-venin I'd been dosing myself with worked." He made a face. "I managed to get clear of the battle and go into hiding."

Now Remus remembered, bits and pieces at least. "The battle. Who won?"

"We did." Severus gave a pinched smile. " Voldemort is dead, finally and completely. I'm not quite sure how he did it, but Potter managed."

"Thank Merlin." Remus flopped down on the grass. Then something else occurred to him. "Casualties?"

Severus touched his wrist. "Better than we might have hoped, but... your wife was one."

"Poor Tonks." Remus swallowed against the lump in his throat. "Do you know what happened to my son?"

Severus shook his head. "I haven't let anyone else know that I survived, so the only information I have is from reading such copies of the _Daily Prophet_ as I can scrounge from public rubbish bins. But I haven't heard that Andromeda Black perished, so I imagine your son is being looked after by his grandmother."

"Good." Remus looked down. He had never loved Tonks the way she deserved; to him she was more like a friend. He had married her to make _her_ happy, not himself. The person whom he truly loved... he forced himself to meet Severus's gaze. "So what now?"

"Now? Now, we both have choices," said Severus softly. "No one, as far as I am aware, knows or even suspects that either of us survived. We can do whatever we like."

Remus threaded his fingers through Severus's. "Perhaps sometime we can let the world know that we live -- the people who matter most, anyhow -- but for now I would rather just be with you."

**Author's Note:**

> For isisanubis from r_grayjoy, who suggested Snape/Lupin, with the prompt "decisions." I hope this is not too angsty!


End file.
